Overconsumed America: are we big, fat, gluttonous jerks?

The super-sized meal; the Hummer; 80-inch plasma TV’s; our waistlines — when Americans go big, we go really big, and we go big a lot. A professor at Southern Connecticut State University had been doing research on the consumption habits of Americans and started to connect the psychological dots between our addiction to consumption and the American dream. The professor built up so much research on the subject that she spun it into a course, "The Psychology of Overconsumption,” which is being offered for the first time this fall. From workaholics to the intense pursuit of the American dream, and the phenomena of hoarding and addictions, Americans seem addicted to overdoing it. We’ll all take a turn in Overconsumption 101 and ask ourselves if we’re just consuming too much.